and P.’pygmcBa, with wl»lch latter species it is frequently confounded. It arrives in April or early in May, 
in considerable numbers. The old birds leave again in August, and the birds of the year some time in 
September} many of the latter perish when the grass is mown, being knocked down with rods and sticks 
upon their trying to escape by flight. 
“ The habits and manners are similar to those of P. mantetta. Like that species, it remains concealed 
among the grass and reeds of the marshes and the borders of lakes and ponds ; there it moves gracefully, 
raising and displaying its tail at every step. It runs with rapidity over the broken reeds. Its food consists 
of insects, small Avorms, and aquatic plants. It is very cunning, and is especially noticeable for the subtlety 
with which it wearies the dog of the sportsman by executing a thousand evolutions with surprising celerity ; 
whence comes the trivial name of Kill-dog- bestowed upon it in some localities. Pursued to extremity, it 
casts itself into the water, swims with ease, and dives at the moment its enemy is about to seize it ; or it 
conceals itself in a tuft of reeds or a bush, and by this means often escapes with impunity. It loves to breed 
among the reeds and in long and thick grass, frequently in small companies, of its own species or of P. 
pygmcBa. The female lays her eggs on an inartificially constructed platform of decayed leaves or stalks of 
marsh-plants, slightly elevated above the water. The eggs are from seven to ten in number, of a yellowish- 
olive colour, finely spotted with a darker tint. The young, when hatched, are clothed with a black down, 
glossed with green on the head and part of the neck, and immediately follow the mother, whom they never 
quit until they begin to fly. The flesh of this Crake is succulent during autumn, and superior in delicacy to 
that of the P, maruettu." 
Although little difference is observable in the colouritig of the sexes when adult, the young differ 
considerably from their parents, and very much resemble the young of the Moorhen, all the under surface 
being lighter than in the adults, and destitute of the blue-grey tint which characterizes them in after-life. 
The accompanying Plate will show these differences more clearly than the most minute description. 
